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Mar 13, 2009

Bruce rated it:

In the early 1990s, Peter Matthiessen wrote his Watson trilogy, a 1400 page work that his publishers, to his discomfort, insisted on publishing in three volumes. Never satisfied with the work, feeling that it was disjointed and insufficiently integrated, Matthiessen began a number of years ago revising and extensively reworking the story, modifying it apparently significantly, and he published the new work last year as Shadow Country. I never read the trilogy – indeed, the only Matthiessen wor More...

1 comment like (15 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Briynne rated it:

I swear I will never think of Florida the same again. Gone is my impression of an overly air conditioned world of old people wearing Bermuda shorts and long black socks. This book was brilliant and terrifying and drenched in blood. It’s set in the “Ten Thousand Islands” of the Florida Everglades beginning in the late 1800s when it was as lawless as the Wild West. The characters display frontier grit in spades and a vicious, poisonous breed of racism the likes of which I have never seen befor More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2009

Melody rated it:

Shadow Country is actually three books rewritten and meant to be read together to get the whole story of Edgar J. Watson. He was a real plantation owner, one of the early settlers in the area now known as the Everglades. There are many rumors about his life and his death. This book is the fictionalized account of the myths and truths of the man and his family.

It’s a damn long book and sometimes I didn’t care if I got the truth. But that was mainly because I was ready to move on More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2009

Karen rated it:

3 books(2 stars, 2 stars, and 4 stars) rewritten into 1 long book. The 1st book sets up the tragic fiction character and is a tedious read with a lot of characters that are difficult to remember. The 2nd book is less tedious but also less entertaining. The 3rd book brings it all together; the fiction story that is used to bring in the history, and the total tragedy of the character, Florida, and the country as a whole. The story incorporates the sad, uneducated Scots and other poor whites that i More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2008

Dad rated it:

Shadow Country won the National Book award this year, but I don't think it should have. The book is a rewrite of three novels Matthiessen published about 30 years ago. He claims he dropped about 400 pages from the original, but in my mind 400 was not enough. The book could easily have been about half as long as it is (over 900 pages).

The story revolves around one E.J.Watson who was a planter in the Florida keys with a storied, violent past. Out of fear of him, his neighbors on More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2009

Tim rated it:

"Shadow Country" is one of those books I describe as "nearly great." (For our purposes here, that would translate to 4.5 stars if the rating system allowed). I owned the first book in the original trilogy that this book distills/subtracts from/adds upon, but never read it. I suspect I'm not missing a lot, as good as this novel is.

Matthiessen comes at the story of turn-of-the-century southwest Florida legend Edgar Watson from all angles -- in Book I, first-person n More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2011

Ryan rated it:

This is the fiction National Book Award winner for this year. Though daunting in size, this book is thoroughly enjoyable and readable. The setting is unique--backcountry Everglades farm communities around the turn of the 20th century. It's a long one (~800 pgs), and I just finished "book one" (of three). It's about the life and eventual murder (don't worry, that's not a spoiler) of a shady plantation owner/outlaw, E.J. Watson, except you never hear the story from his perspective, o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 01, 2009

Kathy rated it:

I really loved this book. I didn't know anything about the Watson legend before I started reading it, but it didn't matter. It's formatted as a trilogy so you hear mostly the same story from different points of view -- when I say it like that it sounds repetitive, but Matthiessen did a good job of not making it laborious. In fact, each of the three major parts gives you more information about the story you heard in the section before.

Edgar Watson, I guess true to what they say abou More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Blake rated it:

I am usually not a fan of National Book Award winners. And after reading Marilynne Robinson's "Home," I didn't think anything could top it. But they got it right this year. Matthiessen's trilogy is a book that (if I know anything about myself) will haunt me for a long time. It is one of the ten best novels I've ever read, and (as most of you know) I don't take ranking's lightly.

Of the three novels, I am fondest of the first--formerly published as Killing Mister Watson. Matt More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 04, 2011

Caroline rated it:

This book is based on the true story of a Florida planter and outlaw, E.J. Watson, who was murdered by his neighbours; it was originally a trilogy and Matthiessen reworked and condensed it to produce this version. It was entirely an accident that I ended up reading this whilst in Florida, given that it's set in the Florida back-country at the turn of the century. It really seemed to add to the atmosphere, being in and around the same places mentioned in the book, smelling the mangrove swamps and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 27, 2009

Dubin rated it:

Really interesting read, but I wish I had read it as three books instead of one collected book.

The gimmick of the book is that it essentially retells the same story three times, the life and death of real-life Florida sugar-baron E.J. Watson.

The first book tells the story from the perspective of Watson's neighbors. All unreliable, they sketch the outlines of his life and the events leading up to his death. Yet we never hear from the man himself.

The second More...

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May 25, 2009

Bill rated it:

This is a work of historical fiction about the life and death of an actual figure, E.J. Watson, who was killed by an angry mob in the Florida Everglades in October of 1910.

Epic in nature, the novel covers the time period of the reconstruction through the great depression. Readers will be made well acquainted with the horrid state of race relations during that period of time, the reconstruction, institutional small-town injustice (which led to institutionalized lynch mob "justice" More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 12, 2011

Nelly rated it:

This book is a masterpiece, but don't trust this ordinary reader. Just look at the book jacket and read the quotes from such luminaries as Oates, Bellow, and Dillard. They are in awe of this book and so am I. You'd think that a book which begins with the story's climax--the murder of its protagonist--wouldn't be able to keep you interested for nearly 900 pages. In fact, I lugged this book around everywhere and read it whenever I had a moment to spare. I did not want it to end.

More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 19, 2009

Michael rated it:

First let me say that this is an extraordinary book. The writing is masterful. The characters are colorful and the sense of who they are is right on. This book is a collection of first person vignettes about the legend of a person named E.J. Watson who settled along the southern gulf coast of Florida around the turn of the 20th century to become a wealthy planter. Depending on who's telling the story, he was either a saint who helped his neighbors or the devil who was ruthless and who pretty muc More...

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Jan 08, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

Critics described the three stand-alone Watson novels as magnificent epics, and Shadow Country, a seamless weaving and slimming down of these works, as a masterpiece. As in all his writing, Matthiessen offers a beautiful homage to place—the raw, untamed Everglades of the late 19th century—while trying to understand the costs that accompanied the conquering of the frontier. All the stand-alone sections have their strengths as they explore the motivations behind Watson’s death. Despite its heft, m More...

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Nov 09, 2009

Martin rated it:

I'm just a bit up and down on this one, ending to the 'up' of middle.

The author's approach is to describe one fictonal EJ Watson's life from several perspecties, essentially written in three sections. They were originally three seperate books, and combined/sshirtened into this form. The first section weaves in and out of several different people who describe key events in Watson's life. The second section is written in his 'favorite' son's voice, the son who desperately tried to u More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 02, 2010

Tony rated it:

Wow.

Shadow Country is a searing dissection of turn of the century (circa 1880-1910) Everglades culture, history and character. The focal character is E.J. Watson, sugar cane planter, innovator, patriarch, murderer, and victim.

The novel is comprised of three 'books', all telling the story of the death of Watson from separate points of view: first, various people who witnessed and assessed the events at the time; second, one of Watson's sons, trying (maybe) to reconstruc More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2010

Rachelle rated it:

A long (almost 800 pages) but brilliant exploration of Bloody Watson, a legendary outlaw in the Florida Everglades at the turn of the 20th century. The book is divided into 3 parts, and the story is told from many points of view. Book one has many points of view - various family members, friends, neighbors. Book two is told from the favorite son's pov. Book three is told from the pov of Watson himself. He was a man more sinned against than sinning, and his story expands our knowledge of Ame More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

Joseph rated it:

Listen, I have great respect for the time and effort Matthiessen put into this novel. It is his life's work. This came from the depths of his soul, and the result is nothing short than epic. The only reason I rate this so low is that I personally found the story to be too boring. I'm sorry, I really tried to stay captivated throughout the whole novel, but it lost my interest. The entire story revolves around one man, E.J. Watson, set against the backdrop of post-Civil War/reconstruction Ame More...

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Jun 15, 2011

Dan rated it:

Simply a jaw-dropping epic that should rise and remain as one of the best American novels of all time. Every character is sharp and two-sided, especially the main character, Watson. As was precisely intended by the author, your opinion of him changes throughout the book depending on whose accounts you are following at the time. The decisive change of perspective and voice is so amazing that it easily smacks of Faulkner's Sound and the Fury. If that wasn't enough, the action is smooth and builds More...

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Nov 16, 2009

Dan rated it:

Another very, very long book. A Faulkner-esque epic that tells the tale of the "Wild South." My grandfather's been living on the swampy Gulf Coast of Florida since I was born, but the homicidal, philandering outlaw Mr. Watson never seemed to show up poolside. The first book is a multi-narrator tour-de-force. Watson dies on the first page, then his neighbors piece his story back together in frightened memories. The second book is "Absalom, Absalom" crossed with a Western More...

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May 21, 2010

Andy rated it:

Matthiessen is a master storyteller, with complete command of the English language. This book is as epic as it gets. It kind of reminds me of Absalom! Absalom! Edgar Watson tries to rise from a bad childhood and make a name for himself, but is hampered and ultimately brought down by his own character flaws.

This book is actually three books in one, and is almost 900 pages of relatively small type. It was definitely a challenging read, but well worth it. The first book is a hist More...

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Nov 19, 2009

Ben added it

Perhaps the most brilliant meta-literary quality to this book is the way that Matthiessen manages to mimic his subject in his writing. In plain terms, starting this book is like stepping into the Florida swamps and getting lost. That's not necessarily a bad thing. There is a lot to like in this book. The writing is strong and often striking, the narrative is intriguing (if indirect), and Matthiessen's nuanced grasp of his themes is admirable. However, much like being lost in the wilderness, More...

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Apr 01, 2010

Meghan rated it:

This book is amazing...gave me an in-depth look at the Florida Everglades and its people in the late 1800s-early 1900s. About Ed Watson, a desperado/loving husband/complicated father/guy just trying to survive. First part of the book is from the POV of his neighbors, second part from the POV of his son struggling to find out who his father really was, third part from the POV of Watson himself. It's very interesting to see how Watson viewed/justified his actions vs. how his neighbors considere More...

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Jul 26, 2009

Lyn rated it:

He continues to make stories that breathe on you. This is a lotta book, but, for me, one that I was glad was long; a little heavy to hold up with my skinny arms while reading in bed. It was exactly how you would hear a story that you were wondering about in real life told in different ways by different people. Each having their own spin on the same happenings and different memories of minute details. I have worked construction with and then visited with swampies in Florida- though not the everg More...

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Jan 23, 2009

Debbie rated it:

Wow, this is a great book! It is a reworking of the author's first attempt, which was published in three novels, and it is a long one, but worth every minute! Interesting from every angle, a fantastic mix of truth, legend and maybe some wishful thinking... The author has a true ear for the speech of the times, and a great way of convincing the reader that this version of events is the true one, right after having sold you a different version! If you are interested in Florida history, US econ More...

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Dec 27, 2011

King Dinösaur rated it:

Perception. This book is all about it.

Mattiessen initially published "Shadow Country" in three installments, as per request of his editor, but, as he states in the forward, he was never happy with that solution. So, thankfully, he revised and reworked the book back into a three-part single mammoth novel - and what a work of art he created. The first part, "Killing Mr. Watson" presents the story of E.J. Watson, a cane-syrup farmer on the west coast of Florida a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2011

Sridhar rated it:

An exceedingly well-written book on a spectacular canvas. I liked everything about it, the cover, the feel, the cadence of the writing, the undercurrents of history, both ecological and human. A brilliant portrayal of a story from at least three different angles, corresponding to the three books packed into this reworked edition: as the neighbours and workers see Watson, as his son Lucius sets out to discover with brother Rob about their father, as his own story. Despite the ~900 page length, I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 09, 2009

Ann added it

Even though I'd be very careful who I'd recommend this to, it will probably eventually be considered a classic. Very intricate, dense writing about the frontier-building era of Florida. Originally written as 1500 pages, the publisher refused to release it that large, but split it into 3 books. In this version the author put the 3 back together and edited it down to less than 1000 pages.
It takes the life and death of one man as the primary story. The first "book" tells the story More...

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Apr 26, 2010

Cv rated it:

The legend of E.J. Watson starts and stops on a day in the Autumn of 1910 when he was killed by his neighbors in the Florida Everglades. And that's the event that Peter Matthiessen works backwords and forwards in this sweeping epic of the last untamed wilderness in the Eastern United States.

There's a lot to like in this volume, but it's not a perfect novel by any means.

I'll start with the strengths. The author has a way with the dialect, dialogue and setting which s More...

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